348. gezwungen, forced, is the part. past of zwingen, irr. act. to force; ich zwinge, ich zwang, ich habe gezwungen; hast du nicht erdacht, hast thou not contrived; from erdenken, irr. comp. verb, to obtain by thinking, to invent, to imagine, to contrive: ich erdenke, ich erdachte, ich habe erdacht. 349. das grosse Blatt, literally, the great leaf; but as ein Blatt Papier is a sheet of paper, the poet uses it for Magna Charta. 350. Der Segel Obermacht, the superiority of sails, a poetical expression for naval superiority. 351. der Würger, masc. properly the strangler, poetically the warrior. erstritten, part. past of the irr. comp. erstreiten, to obtain by fighting; ich erstreite, ich erstritt, ich habe erstritten, erröthen, reg. comp. to blush, to turn red. hinblicken, a sep. comp. to look; ich blicke hin, ich blickte hin, ich habe hingeblickt. Schauen, verb act. and neut. to show, and to look. 352. Schlagen, irr. to beat; ich schlage, ich schlug, ich habe geschlagen. 353. der Almacht'ge a contraction for der Almächtige, the Almighty; herabsehn, to look down. 354. Löwenflaggen, lions' flags: the poet gives this name to the Spanish flag, on account of the lions which are in the Spanish arms. vergehen, and untergehen, to perish the former insep. ich vergehe, ich verging, ich bin vergangen. ein Felsendamm, a strong dike of rocks. 355. zusammenstürzen is a sep. comp. verb, made of stürzen, to fall, to tumble, and zusammen, together, which here denotes a sudden shaking and tumbling of the parts of a whole, and coming down with violence. 356. die Tirannenwehre, fem. the defence against tyrants. 357. verschwinden, irr. insep. comp. to vanish, to disappear; ich verschwinde, ich verschwand, ich bin verschwunden. 358. blies, impf. of blasen, irr. to blow; ich blase, ich blies, ich habe geblasen. These two last lines allude to the medal by which Queen Elizabeth commemorated the victory over the Spanish Armada. It represents a fleet perishing in a storm, with the modest motto: " Afflavit Deus et dissipati sunt.” 359. We turn once more to Goethe for our lesson, and take his Harper, a Song introduced into his " Wilhelm Meister," for the vehicle of our remarks. DER HARFNER, Was hör'ich draussen vor dem Thor, Der König sprach's, der Page lief, Gegrüsset seid ihr hohe Herrn, Welch reicher Himmel! Stern bei Stern! Im Saal voll Pracht und Herrlichkeit Der Sänger drückt' die Augen ein Die goldne Kette gieb mir nicht, Die Kette gieb den Rittern Der Feinde Lanzen splittern. Gieb sie dem Kanzler, den du hast, Ich singe wie der Vogel singt Das Lied, das ans der Kehle dringt Lasst einem Trunk des besten Weins In reinem Glase bringen. Er setzt'es an, er trank es aus. O Trank der süssen Labe! O dreimal hochbeglücktes Haus Wo das ist kleine Gabe! Ergeht's euch wohl so denkt an mich, Für diesen Trank euch danke. THE HARPER. What do I hear resounding without the gate upon the bridge? Let the song resound in the hall to our ear! The king spoke it, the page ran off; the boy returned, and the king called out, Bring in the old man hither. Hail to you, noble sirs! Hail to you, handsome ladies! What a rich heaven! Star by star; who can tell their names? In this hall, full of pomp and splendour, I'll close my eyes : this is no time for enjoying this delightful surprise. The singer shut his eyes, and made the full-toned chords vibrate. The knight looked undaunted up; the fair one into her lap. The king, who was pleased with the song, ordered a gold chain to be brought as a reward for his music. The golden chain give not to me; give the chain to the knights, before whose bold looks the lances of the enemies fly in splinters: give it to thy chancellor, and let him bear the golden load along with his other burdens. I sing as the bird sings, which dwells among the boughs; the song that swells from the throat is a reward that richly recompenses. Yet if I dared to ask, I would beg this: let them bring me a draught of the best wine in a clean goblet. He set it to his lips, he drank it up: O draught of sweetest savour! O thrice-blessed house where such a cup is but a small gift! If you fare well, think of me, and thank the Almighty as warmly as I thank you for this cup. 360. Der Harfer, Harfener, or Harfner, sub. pl. die Harfner, the harper; and in the fem. die Harferin, or Harfnerin. But we have also for the male harper, der Harfenspieler and der Harfenschläger, and for the female, if she be an itinerant harper, das Harfenmädchen. Der Harfenist is of foreign origin, and ought not to be employed. 361. draussen, adv. of place, without, on the outside, particularly with reference to one's dwelling in the house. er ist nicht in dem Zimmer, er ist draussen, he is not in the room, he is without. 362. vor dem Thor, before the gate, without the gate. das Thore es, e, pl. die Thore, neut. the gate. We say, vor dem Thore, when there is no locomotion, and vor das Thor, when there is. Wir wollen ein wenig vor das Thor fahren, we will drive a little out of the gate. But der Thor, pl. die Thoren, masc. a fool, an extravagant person. It is sometimes synonymous with Narr, masc. a fool who wants understanding. 363. der Gesang, es, e, pl. die Gesänge, (masc. like all substantives in ang,) the song, the singing. das Gesangbuch, neut. the book containing the hymns sung at church. 364. das Ohr, es, e, pl. die Ohren, neut. the ear; die Ohrenklingen sausen, or brausen mir, I have a tinkling in my ears. wiederhallen, sep. comp. neut. verb, to resound, to re-echo. Poets also use it actively. ich halle wieder, ich hallte wieder, ich habe wiedergehallt. die Berge hallen wieder, the mountains are re-echoing. 365. der Page, masc. is properly a French word. We have the German Edelknabe, masc. lief is the imp. of the irr. neut, verb laufen, to run; ich laufe, du läufst, er läuft; ich lief; ich bin gelaufen, in Upper Germany. ich laufe, du laufst, er lauft; and ich bin geloffen. It becomes active, as it were, in the expressions, sich müde laufen, to run one's-self tired, viz. to tire one's-self by running; ich habe mir die Füsse wund gelaufen, I have run my feet wound, I have wounded or hurt my feet by running. 366. Bring ihn herein, bring him in, imperative of the sep. irr. comp. hereinbringen, to bring in; ich bringe herein, ich brachte herein, ich habe hereingebracht. Herein denotes a moving into a certain place towards the speaker. The person that sits in a room calls to one who is knocking at the door, Herein! a contraction for Kommen sie herein! Come in! Wollen sie nicht hereinkommen? Won't you come in? But the person at the door must say darf ich hinein kommen? May I come in? And the same is to be observed with all verbs formed with hin and her before the preposition or particle, sec. 264. 367. gegrüsset, or gegrüsst, partic. past of the regular act. verb, grüssen, to greet, to salute, from gruss, sec. 275. 368. die Dame, pl. die Damen, fem. the lady, is the French word "dame," which is so generally used, and so agreeable to women of the better class, that it is almost impossible to root it out of the language, though great pains have been taken latterly to substitute the words, Frau, Edelfrau, Ehrenfrau, but none of these satisfy female vanity. 369. Welch reicher Himmel! what a rich heaven! is a poetical license for welcher reiche Himmel! 370. der Stern, es, e, pl. die Sterne, masc. the star, the stern of a ship. 371. die Pracht, fem. splendour, pomp. All the words in acht are fem. except der Pacht, a lease, and der Schacht, a shaft in a mine. 372. die Herrlichkeit, fem. maguificence. In some places, persons of distinction are addressed by euer Herrlichkeit, your magnificence. In the Bible, speaking of the Creator, it is " glory." die Herrlichkeit Gottes; das Reich der Herrlichkeit, the kingdom of glory. 373. Schliesst Augen euch, a poetical license for Schliesst euch, ihr Augen, close yourselves, ye eyes. sich schliessen, a refl. verb, from the irr. act. and neut. schliessen, to lock, to close, to conclude; ich schliesse, ich schloss, ich habe geschlossen. 374. staunend, part. active of the reg. neut. verb, staunen, (conjugated with haben) to be astonished, to be startled at. It expresses the highest degree of wondering at a thing. Lessing couples it with admiration, when he says, in allen Aeusserungen einer staunenden Bewunderung, in all the expressions of a startling admiration. 375. ergötzen, or as it is now more agreeably spelt, ergetzen, is a reg. active verb, to delight, to give very great pleasure; and as a refl. verb, sich ergetzen, to receive very great pleasure, to be delighted. But it always denotes a calm tranquil delight. Utz says: "Dort wo im Schatten schlanker Buchen "Yonder, where in the shade of slender beeches, the fountain murmurs between flowers, I see the Muses visiting ine, and am delighted with their song." 376. drücht die Augen ein, presses the eyes inward, closes his eyes, from the sep. reg. comp. verb, eindrücken, to imprint, to impress; ich drücke ein, ich drückte ein, ich habe eingedrückt. und schlug, and struck, impf. of the irr. act. and neut. schlagen, to beat, to strike; ich schlage, ich schlug, ich habe geschlagen. It enters into a great many idiomatic expressions, and is also used reflectively, for to turn, to alter its direction, in speaking of a road. Wenn Sie dem zweiten Meilensteine vorbei sind schlägt sich der Weg linker Hand, when you have passed the second mile-stone, the road turns to the left. 377. die vollen Töne, the full tones; der Ton, es, pl. die |